Chapter 4

A pair of scarlet eyes. Just looking at them made Yu Mu's eyes burn with discomfort. The statue's eerie presence swept through the ruined temple like a howling gale.

On that cold, rainy day, wind and rain lashed the outside of the ruined temple, while gusts of frigid wind swept through the inside. The temple teetered on the verge of collapse, creaking from every direction, as though it might come crashing down at any moment and become a ruin in the rain.

Yu Mu's heart trembled.

A single look was enough to make her realize that she was no match for the strange statue.

"Shi Wu, run!" Yu Mu reacted quickly, intending to hold the statue off and let Shi Wu escape before fleeing herself.

Ye Fu's body was rigid. He couldn't move at all.

Yu Mu gritted her teeth and struck the statue with another Spiritual Qi mark. Once again, it had no effect whatsoever.

The statue breathed like a living creature, its heavy breaths rumbling like muffled thunder.

Yu Mu was anxious. Why isn't he moving? Has that monster taken control of him?

Roar-

Suddenly, the statue let out a hoarse, grating roar.

Oh no, it's angry! Yu Mu's heart jolted.

Then the statue began to tremble, making a sound like fingernails scraping porcelain. It abruptly shifted its posture and stood up, its towering body smashing straight through the ruined temple's roof beams. A wall behind it collapsed directly toward Ye Fu.

"Look out!" Yu Mu's eyes widened.

Boom-

The earthen wall crashed heavily down, scattering fragments. Because of the rain, it raised little dust. Then Yu Mu was horrified to see that the collapsing wall hadn't struck Ye Fu down. He was still sitting there, entirely unaffected. Sitting so calmly, he looked more like a statue than the statue itself.

She froze for a moment.

In that moment, she failed to notice the statue move. It raised its foot high and brought it down toward her.

Every hair on Yu Mu's body stood on end. She dodged to the side, but she wasn't quick enough and was struck by the statue's enormous foot. Though she wasn't trampled beneath it, she flew like an arrow loosed from a bow and slammed into another wall, leaving it teetering on the verge of collapse.

It felt as though someone had given her internal organs a vicious squeeze. The pain was unbearable.

Seeing this, Ye Fu could only shout to her, "Run! Save yourself!"

"You run too!" Yu Mu shouted as she scrambled to her feet.

The statue's second stomp came down. Now on guard, Yu Mu barely managed to dodge it.

The ruined temple's foundations couldn't withstand the blow, and the floor cracked inch by inch.

Yu Mu kicked off the statue's other foot and used the momentum to land lightly beside Ye Fu. Then she put both hands on his shoulders, intending to pick him up and escape with him.

She strained, but failed to move Ye Fu even an inch. His whole body felt as heavy as a mountain.

"Why are you so heavy?!"

Ye Fu said, "Run. Don't worry about me."

"We know each other now. I can't just leave you here."

With that, she strained again, but the result was the same.

"Have you put down roots?!" Yu Mu said anxiously.

Although the statue was huge and somewhat clumsy, it gave them no time to catch their breath. It turned around, raised a foot again, and brought it down hard.

"Get out of the way!" Ye Fu shouted.

Yu Mu wanted to take Ye Fu with her, but she also wanted to dodge. Unable to decide for a moment, she wasted her best chance to evade. By the time she reacted, the statue's enormous foot was already upon her.

Panicked and at a loss, she instinctively closed her eyes.

Ye Fu was frantic. Ever since the wall had fallen on him, he had felt that his body had become remarkably tough. And something like an instinct told him that he could completely disregard the statue that had come to life. He could disregard it, but the foolish girl in front of him couldn't. Once that foot came down, she would definitely be reduced to a bloody mess.

He desperately wished he could move.

When that wish surfaced in his mind, an unprecedented surge of heat rose in his heart. In an instant, he felt countless things appear in his head and shoot through his body like chains of lightning. In that same instant, a swelling presence burst forth.

Ye Fu's body was no longer stiff. But it was too late to make any large movements. He could only strain to raise one hand and extend a finger to meet the statue's enormous foot.

Before the massive stone foot, a single finger looked so tiny, so fragile.

Finger and stone foot collided.

There was no earth-shaking crash, nor any presence raging like a wild wind.

They simply collided. Then a crack appeared in the foot of the statue, whose overwhelming presence seemed to topple mountains, overturn seas, and blot out the sky. The crack spread rapidly, covering the entire statue in an instant.

Then, with a boom, it shattered into powder-actual powder-which scattered throughout the ruined temple before the heavy rain quickly washed it away.

A human-shaped apparition emerged from the statue and let out a piercing scream. "Ah-" Then it dispersed like smoke.

It was at that very moment that Ye Fu realized one thing-

I seem to have gained an incredible power.

Everything had happened so quickly that Yu Mu's eyes were still closed.

Ye Fu let out a heavy breath. Then the shattered temple could hold out no longer and came crashing down all around them.

As if by instinct, Ye Fu raised his hand, and a thin barrier enveloped him and Yu Mu.

Inside the barrier, Yu Mu opened her eyes and watched the ruined temple collapse. As the debris fell around them, an invisible force sent it bouncing far away.

She was puzzled. Where's the statue? What happened?

Ye Fu could move now. He stood up with a complicated expression, then looked at Yu Mu with the same expression.

"Shi Wu... what happened?"

Ye Fu looked around. "As you can see."

Yu Mu said tremulously, "Did you save me?"

"Perhaps."

"Th... thank you."

"You're welcome."